Chapter 269
“Impressive!”
After looking around inside the Iron Fortress, Lee Jeongho let out an involuntary exclamation of admiration.
The interior space was far larger than it appeared from the outside, naturally inspiring awe.
“At this size, tens of thousands of people could easily live here. Assuming a sufficient water supply can be secured.”
The more he looked, the more desirable the place became.
If this place could be made into a satellite city of Neo Seoul, it would mean expanding Neo Seoul’s territory by that much more.
The problem was Zeon.
Zeon did not seem particularly pleased with the idea of this place becoming a satellite city of Neo Seoul.
Without his cooperation, turning this place into a satellite city would be nearly impossible.
‘Either gain his cooperation… or eliminate him.’
Neither option would be easy.
That was how troublesome a figure Zeon was.
Lee Jeongho decided to stop thinking about him for now.
What mattered at the moment was obtaining Moby Dick’s Heart.
A resident of the Iron Fortress guided Lee Jeongho and Claire to an empty house.
“You may rest here. When the meal is ready, Lord Urtian will summon you personally.”
“Can we look around while the meal is being prepared?”
“I apologize. This is the only area the two of you are permitted to access.”
The resident politely refused Lee Jeongho’s request.
Lee Jeongho frowned as though displeased, but since he was a guest, he had to follow the host’s wishes and made no further demands.
“Then please rest well.”
After greeting the two, the resident left.
Once they were alone, Claire spoke to Lee Jeongho.
“Then I’ll wash up first.”
The thought of finally being able to take a proper shower after so long brightened Claire’s face.
“Do as you like.”
“Yes!”
Claire immediately rushed into the bathroom.
Left alone, Lee Jeongho looked out the window.
He could sense residents lingering outside the house.
It seemed they were monitoring the house where the two of them were staying.
“It can’t be helped.”
If he truly wanted to, he could avoid their eyes and leave unnoticed whenever he pleased. But if he were caught even once, it would only earn Zeon’s distrust.
To obtain Moby Dick’s Heart, Zeon’s cooperation was absolutely necessary. Until then, he had to refrain from doing anything that would put him in Zeon’s bad graces.
***
“His gaze didn’t seem ordinary. You don’t think he’ll cause trouble, do you?”
“I don’t believe so. For now, he still needs me.”
“That’s a relief…”
At Zeon’s answer, Pabilsa let out a sigh of relief.
The moment he saw Lee Jeongho, he had felt a chilling sensation, as though a blade had been pressed against his throat.
Even Pabilsa, who had wandered the desert his entire life and met countless awakened ones, had never encountered a powerhouse that gave off the same feeling as Lee Jeongho.
The strongest person he had ever met was none other than Deioden.
Lee Jeongho could not yet compare to Deioden.
Deioden gave the impression of an ultra-powerful typhoon that crushed everything before him. Lee Jeongho, on the other hand, gave off the terrifying feeling that he could instantly slice apart any living creature standing in front of him.
In terms of pressure and skill, Deioden far surpassed him, but there was no reason for Deioden to attack Pabilsa. Meanwhile, Lee Jeongho radiated the sort of murderous aura that made it feel as though he could draw his sword and sever Pabilsa’s neck at any moment if displeased.
That made him even more threatening.
‘Of course, if we’re talking about danger, this guy is still the worst.’
Pabilsa looked at Zeon with a renewed expression.
At that moment, Kaylie, who had been standing nearby, pointed at Zeon’s right arm.
“That gauntlet… isn’t that the one I made for you?”
“That’s right.”
“But something feels different about it now. Can I take a look?”
Kaylie couldn’t take her eyes off the Blazing Heat Gauntlet Zeon was wearing.
The Blazing Heat Gauntlet, embedded with a dragon’s eye, emitted a completely different aura from before.
Since she had made it herself, she couldn’t help but be interested in the changes.
“I attached a dragon’s eye to the gauntlet you made for me, noona.”
“Seriously? That’s a dragon’s eye?”
“Yes! Take a closer look yourself.”
Zeon removed the Blazing Heat Gauntlet and handed it to Kaylie.
The moment she received it, Kaylie was startled by the faint but intense heat radiating from it.
“This powerful heat… don’t tell me it’s a Red Dragon?”
“That’s correct.”
“This is insane.”
Kaylie unconsciously let out an exclamation.
To her as well, dragons were practically legendary beings.
Naturally, she had never seen one before, nor had she ever gotten her hands on something like its eye.
It was only natural that her curiosity was stirred.
“Who attached this?”
“An enchanter I met by chance did it.”
“They must’ve been a high-ranking enchanter?”
“That’s right.”
“But maybe because it wasn’t a gauntlet they personally made, they couldn’t bring out one hundred percent of its performance.”
“You mean it’s incomplete?”
“There’s room for improvement.”
Kaylie flared her nostrils.
It was a habit of hers whenever she got excited.
The Blazing Heat Gauntlet had evolved far beyond when she first created it. It was already incredible, but the possibility remained for it to become even more perfect.
The current Kaylie was no longer the same person she used to be.
After parting ways with Zeon and creating countless items, she too had advanced.
Now she was an S-rank Enchanter.
She had reached the highest rank possible for an enchanter.
Though she had virtually no combat ability, when it came to crafting items and imbuing them with special properties, there was no one who could rival her.
The only person who knew she had become S-rank was Pabilsa.
The secret had been kept that thoroughly.
“Will you leave it with me tonight? I’ll make it reach its absolute best condition.”
“I should be the one asking you for the favor.”
“Then let’s do it?”
“Yes!”
“Awesome!”
Kaylie held the Blazing Heat Gauntlet in her hands and rejoiced like a child.
Watching her, Pabilsa clicked his tongue.
“That little tomboy! Is she really that happy?”
Even as he said that, a satisfied smile lingered on his face.
When a craftsman encountered the finest materials, it was only natural for their passion to ignite. The same was true for Enchanters.
The finest materials had been added to the gauntlet that was her masterpiece.
It would have been stranger if an Enchanter didn’t feel excited.
Kaylie carried the Blazing Heat Gauntlet into her room.
Zeon flexed his right hand absentmindedly.
For the past eight years, he had never once removed the gauntlet. Without it, he felt strangely empty.
It was as though a part of his body had been torn away.
So this was what loss felt like.
Still, it was a necessary process for further growth, so he had to endure it.
Pabilsa spoke.
“You must be tired, so get some proper rest first.”
“Yes! You should rest as well, old man.”
“Let’s meet again at dinner.”
After Pabilsa left, Zeon remained alone.
He let out a quiet sigh.
“It feels empty.”
***
Returning to her room, Kaylie gazed at the Blazing Heat Gauntlet with an ecstatic expression.
It was a masterpiece she had crafted with her own hands.
Though it had later evolved further after being enchanted with a dragon’s eye, the base itself was still entirely her creation.
“I don’t know who did it, but an incredible Enchanter must have worked on this.”
Modifying an item made by someone else was never easy.
Every Enchanter had their own unique methods and skills.
It was often easier to create something from scratch than to alter another person’s work, which required tremendous effort and time.
Moreover, attaching an out-of-grade item like a dragon’s eye demanded extraordinary concentration and ability.
The Enchanter who had installed the Red Dragon’s Eye into the gauntlet she created possessed tremendous skill.
Someone incomparable to who she had been back then.
But a long time had passed since then, and Kaylie herself had undergone a dramatic transformation.
She had become an S-rank Enchanter.
To the eyes of an S-rank Enchanter, the flaws and areas for improvement in the Blazing Heat Gauntlet were obvious.
Because she had created it herself, she knew exactly how to draw out even greater performance from it.
Improving its performance would require quite a few materials.
Every single one of them was an extremely rare material that was difficult to obtain.
But Kaylie wasn’t worried.
The necessary materials already existed within her subspace.
While wandering the desert aboard Arkelion, she had desperately collected every rare material she came across.
As a result, her subspace overflowed with all kinds of precious materials.
“Let’s see… First, I’ll reinforce the durability with Ghost Beetle shells, then stabilize the mana flow using Rainbow Butterfly wings. To fully draw out the authority of the Red Dragon’s Eye, Exrium—the rare metal I obtained from the volcanic dungeon—should work perfectly.”
She continued imagining.
Boundless imagination was her greatest weapon.
Imagine, plan, and manifest.
Those were the fundamental virtues every Enchanter needed.
Kaylie spent the entire night envisioning the Blazing Heat Gauntlet’s final evolved form in her mind. Only after she finally pictured a shape and performance she found satisfactory did she begin the work.
“First, the Ghost Beetle shell.”
The shell of the Ghost Beetle bore patterns resembling ghosts, which was how it got its name.
Its shell was unbelievably durable while also possessing excellent mana conductivity. Because it was so rare and difficult to obtain, she had treasured it carefully until now.
As she drew up her mana, Kaylie muttered:
“Modify!”
At that moment, mana burst from her hands and seeped into the Ghost Beetle shell, beginning to transform it.
Under ordinary methods, cutting or bending a Ghost Beetle shell was impossible. But for an S-rank Enchanter like her, shaping it however she desired was not difficult at all.
Among an Enchanter’s skills, Modify reshaped materials into the desired form.
All that was required was mana, a vivid mental image, and the will to achieve it.
Kaylie possessed all three.
Moments later, the Ghost Beetle shell had transformed into the exact shape she wanted.
She placed the Blazing Heat Gauntlet atop it.
“Combine!”
The Ghost Beetle shell slowly melted into the Blazing Heat Gauntlet, and an intense crimson light erupted outward.
The brilliance was so blinding that it was difficult even to keep her eyes open, yet Kaylie stared directly into it.
Within the light, she could see the two objects fusing together.
More precisely, the Ghost Beetle shell was being absorbed into the Blazing Heat Gauntlet, but that distinction didn’t matter.
What mattered was maintaining this momentum.
Once the Ghost Beetle shell had been absorbed to a certain degree, she took out another item.
It was a semi-transparent object shimmering brilliantly in seven different colors, like a rainbow captured in solid form.
The wing of a Rainbow Butterfly.
Despite its beautiful name, the Rainbow Butterfly was a merciless predator.
It drifted through the desert on the wind, and whenever it found prey, it flapped its wings to scatter neurotoxin.
Any living being that inhaled the microscopic poison died within mere seconds.
Humans and magical beasts alike were no exception.
Using its tube-like curled proboscis as a straw, the Rainbow Butterfly sucked the bodily fluids from its prey.
No matter how massive the magical beast was, within ten minutes it would become nothing more than a dried-up mummy.
‘At least Rainbow Butterflies live deep in the distant deserts where hardly any people reside. If they existed near here, no one would survive.’
Rainbow Butterflies made no sound when they flapped their wings.
They approached so silently that one wouldn’t notice them until they were directly overhead.
To the victim, death came before they even understood what had happened.
Monsters like these were often far more dangerous to humans than gigantic magical beasts.
No one knew how many more such creatures lurked in the skies.
The sky looked empty at first glance, but at altitudes beyond human vision, terrifying magical beasts like Rainbow Butterflies swarmed unseen.
Kaylie shook away her thoughts and focused once more on the Rainbow Butterfly wing.
The moment she activated her ability, chunks of mana drained from her body.
Large beads of sweat continuously poured down her face, yet she never blinked once, maintaining extreme concentration as she used her skill.
Flash!
The moment Exrium was added last, the dragon’s eye embedded within the Blazing Heat Gauntlet emitted a radiance incomparably more intense than ever before.
As Kaylie checked the completed gauntlet, her body suddenly jerked in surprise.
“Hic!”